MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. During an exercise near Camp Lejeune, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) teamed up to demonstrate the launch and recovery of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), the Puma RQ-12A Wasp IV and the InstantEye.

POINT MUGU, Calif. The U.S. Navy tested Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8C Fire Scout endurance capabilities during a flight demonstration. The flight lasted approximately 11 hours and ranged out to 150 nautical miles from the Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mugu.

ARLINGTON, Virginia. Officials at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are seeking proposals for the three-phase Circuit Realization At Faster Timescales (CRAFT) program which aims at spurring development of integrated circuits (ICs) that are not only low power, but can be fabricated much more affordably than custom ICs used today that often exceed $100 million in development costs. They want to develop new fast-track circuit-design methods, multiple sources for integrated circuit fabrication, and a technology repository.

FAIRFAX, Virginia. Global spending on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs is expected to triple over the next decade in military, commercial, and consumer markets, according to analysts at Teal Group in a new market analysis. They estimate that UAV production will rise from current worldwide UAV production of $4 billion annually to about $14 billion, totaling $93 billion over the next ten years. Military UAV research spending would add another $30 billion over the same decade.

SAN DIEGO. During a series of high-altitude and long-endurance exercises Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk responded to external requests to dynamically alter its route flight and sensor functionality, demonstrating mission management control features in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) without changes to the air vehicle software.

BINGEN, Wash. Insitu engineers are slated to build six RQ-21A Blackjack systems for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps under the terms of their latest contract -- the $78-million Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (STUAS) Lot IV Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract.